


just the right kind

by blackkat



Series: From the Sannin to Shisui - Older Generation Drabbles [12]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sentinels & Guides, Developing Relationship, Flirting, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-21 09:06:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19999399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat
Summary: Kakashi’s senses keep going haywire, and Genma is pretty sure he’s the only one who notices.





	just the right kind

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt: Kakashi/Genma post-war with Guide/Sentinel dynamics?

Kakashi’s senses keep going haywire, and Genma is pretty sure he’s the only one who notices. 

Tucked back against a wall of the Hokage’s office, he spins his senbon through his fingers, watching carefully as Kakashi leans forward over the desk, one hand rubbing at the back of his neck like he’s trying to ease a headache. Maybe just from overworking himself on too little sleep, because heaven knows Kakashi has never done anything else, but—

There are lines around his eyes, pain rather than age, and his eyes keep slipping out of focus. 

Genma rolls the senbon across his knuckles, considering. For a Sentinel, Kakashi’s always done almost ghoulishly well without a Guide, which was confusing right up until Tobi’s mask came off during the war. But, if Obito was alive all those years, if Kakashi actually _did_ have a bond with a Guide and just didn’t know it, it’s reasonable that he never went completely off the rails. 

(One more thing about Obito that doesn’t quite add up, as little as Genma likes traitors. He could have used that bond against Kakashi countless times beyond that last fight between them, the same way he could have used Kamui to capture every one of the bijuu in a matter of hours. But he _didn’t._ He used the bare minimum of his abilities to fight them, practically inviting them to stop him, and—they did. They did, and he died, and _that_ was when the bond finally broke for good.)

Whatever Obito’s motivations, unconscious or not, he’s dead now. For the first time since he was nine years old, Kakashi doesn’t have even the ghost of a bond, has no Guide at all, and Genma can see he’s suffering for it. 

_Leave it alone, Gen_ , was Iwashi’s warning when Genma brought it up. _You know how he is._

But that’s the problem, isn’t it? He _doesn’t,_ because this is new territory. This is Kakashi without a Guide, and—

Well. Genma’s always been a strong Guide. Nothing to write home about compared to, say, Naruto or Obito, but he’s always been popular in ANBU because of his ability to take the edge off of things, even for strangers. Good at forming connections, Choza used to say, and Genma hopes it’s true enough to matter. 

Taking a step out of the shadows, he lets his sandal scuff the floor, a warning. Watches Kakashi’s shoulders tense, just slightly, as he pauses with a hand still on the back of his neck, and slides his senbon back up his sleeve. 

“Looking kind of tense there, Hokage-sama,” he says, low and lazy, and watches Kakashi’s head turn towards him without pause. Hearing hasn’t gone yet, then. Genma’s pretty certain that vision is the one bothering him right now. Not a zone, not yet, but—it’s only a short step from letting control slip to losing it entirely. 

“It’s a stressful sort of job,” Kakashi says, perfectly mild, but he doesn’t turn enough to actually focus his eyes on Genma. Just enough to hear him, and Genma snorts, reaching out to graze his fingers over the line of Kakashi’s shoulders. 

“It would be less stressful if you could see, right?” he asks, just dry enough to let Kakashi dismiss him if he’s wildly off-base. 

Kakashi doesn’t, though. There’s a moment of tense silence, and then Kakashi’s eyes slide shut, body slumping slightly. “How did you guess?”

“I’m a Guide, Kakashi,” Genma says, pointed. “It’s kind of my job to pay attention to that sort of shit.”

“Don’t swear at your Hokage,” Kakashi protests, and when Genma just snorts he pokes him in the hip. “I see how it is. When you want something, I’m _Hokage-sama_ , but when you’re giving me lip, you finally manage to remember my name.”

“Perils of appointing someone who saw you with acne your Guard Platoon Commander,” Genma says cheerfully, and takes that as permission to dig his fingers into Kakashi’s shoulders, channeling a touch of soothing emotion as he does. Kakashi’s breath hitches as he rubs out the tight knots there, and his head falls forward, baring the nape of his neck. Genma wants to put his mouth there, wants to see if Kakashi will lean into it, if he’ll turn and give it back, pull Genma in and fit their mouths together and—

But that’s a long-standing bit of infatuation talking, and not the Guide in him. Genma shuts it out. 

By the time the knots are gone from Kakashi’s shoulders, he’s slumped boneless over the desk, and Genma snorts, trailing his fingertips along the line of Kakashi’s spine as he folds himself down. Settles against the desk, one foot hooked around Kakashi’s as he stretches his legs out, and tips his head to look up at him. 

“Better?” he asks lightly. 

Slowly, carefully, Kakashi cracks an eye open, blinks, and then opens both. The breath he lets out is entirely relief, and he smiles at Genma, somewhere between relief and amusement. “You’re good at that.”

Genma doesn’t say _it’s my job_ , the way Kakashi clearly expects. Shrugs one shoulder, carefully nonchalant, and meets his eyes with a crooked smile. “There are people around here who care about you, Kakashi,” he says. “There are people who’ve been caring for a long time. If you’ll let us, we’d like to do it without all the distance.”

For a long moment, Kakashi is silent. “We?” he finally asks. 

“I,” Genma allows, breezy, light, like he’s not putting everything on the line. “Maybe we’re even compatible, but you’ll never know unless you try, right?”

Kakashi looks away, out the window of the office. Sweeps a look across the village, eyes sharp as he studies each inch, and Genma wonders with a wince just how long Kakashi’s sight has been on the fritz. He’s been off the last few days, after all, and Iwashi is the only other Guide on the Platoon. But he’s bonded, and he might not have noticed when Kakashi’s so good at concealing things. 

“We are,” Kakashi says, more to himself than anyone. “No other Guide has even been able to tell.”

As a Sentinel, Kakashi’s overwhelming. A force of nature, Minato had said once, worried more than triumphant. When he was a genin, he got chucked between teams regularly, because he’d eat up Guides and spit them out. Obito stopped that, but—Genma’s always remembered that phrase. 

Really, it’s no wonder he’s Hokage, with that kind of power. 

“Then we’re off to a good start,” he says, and when Kakashi looks down at him, he smiles. 

There’s a long, long pause, and then Kakashi smiles back. Just faintly, but—it’s there. “Only if you buy me dinner first,” he jokes. 

Genma raises a brow. “And rob you of the satisfaction of bolting at the last minute so you can stick me with the bill?” he asks dryly. 

Kakashi beams, perfectly innocent, and his eyes are laughing. “If you pay for dinner, I’ll invite you up for coffee,” he offers, and his foot hooks around Genma’s in return, a deliberate motion. 

Genma shivers, closes his eyes. Smiles, because he took a chance and it paid off. “Sounds good to me,” he says roughly, and stays where he is as the scratch of Kakashi’s pen resumes, perfectly warm and content in the fading light. 

Kakashi doesn’t move away, and that’s enough to give Genma all the hope he needs. 


End file.
